For me, choosing a door handle is the crowning moment of the door fitting process. Why shouldn’t it be as its normally the last thing our fitters do before they finish fitting one of our many projects. Its also important as the handle lets us interact with our doors, helping us to open, close and in some cases lock our doors. Fitting handles is just the beginning of a long relationship we are about to have with our doors, so it is vitally important that we choose the right one with not only regards to its looks but also how it feels in our hand.
Many door sets come with satin stainless steel ironmongery as standard (and SWD sets all do come with this as standard!). This includes the door hinges, locks and latches but many do not include the handles. The handles come as an extra, with many choosing the handle in the same finish to match the door set ironmongery. Other finishes are available with polished stainless steel also being a popular finish at the current time. Satin stainless steel gives the whole door set that modern, simplistic feel which is a trend that is not only prominent here in the UK but across the whole of Europe. Polished stainless steel on the other hand has a more traditional look and feel about it and is as equally popular as its satin stainless steel counterpart, the only thing is that it can be a little more expensive.
Karcher produces our most popular handles used on our door sets, giving our clients the option of having handles on rose, back-plates and matching Turns and escutcheons. These are also competitively priced to buy from retail outlets (including SWD), with prices averaging from around £40 – £60. They also produce handles in the polished finish, which can be a little more expensive or a dual finish which is also popular, combining satin stainless steel and polished finishes on the one handle.
Growing ever more popular with every project we at SWD seem to find are the handles produced by Itesori. These are Italian manufactured handles for properties wanting a more exclusive look. The styles and finishes of these handles vary greatly, whether one is looking for an ultra modern or the more classical and traditional look, the range is enormous and there are styles to suit all tastes.
At SWD, we are finding the two most popular Itersori handles at the moment are the Morphus Lever on back-plate with a polished finish and the Sata Lever on Rose. Both of these handles we have been supplying in a number of our projects across the South of England so it’s a popular range this summer. The Morphus lever’s back-plate helps the handle stand out, especially on the larger doors SWD produce. It also gives you the option of having the lever and locks combined together on one plate instead of separately, when you have a lever on rose (pictured above). The Sata handle on rose has sleek look giving the doors a modern twist.With these handles it is more the name that is trending rather than the look and finish.
SWD currently building a specialist website to access information and buy a range of products from the Itesori line so keep logging on to the blog for updates.
.jpg)